Did Putin order a Boeing 777 to fly to Venezuela to pick up 20 tons of gold?

update March 4: Another Nordwind Airlines B777 landed at Caracas at March 1. It then flew from Caracas via Entebbe to Zanzibar (Tanzania). And returned directly to Caracas. From there, again heading to Entebbe and Zanzibar. Very strange and suspicious  flights. See end of post for details.

update July 1: Wall Street Journal published a story confirming Nordwind Airlines transported gold to  a refinery in Uganda early March 2019

In 2018 and 2019 Venezuela president Maduro sold gold to various countries and individual buyers  without the National Assembly’s approval, as mandated by Article 187 of the National Constitution.  Russian airline Nordwind was involved in the transport of the gold out of Caracas to Uganda. An initial attempt to export gold using Nordwind Airlines was cancelled, likely due to the media attention. Later the export to Uganda was succesfull. 

Venezuelean Runrunes is a news, opinion and analysis website dedicated to Venezuelan topics. The website was founded by Venezuelan investigative journalist Nelson Bocaranda. In this article is shows many flights operated by Turkish Airlines were used to export gold in 2018.

An unusual aircraft using flightnumber N49801 landed at Caracas Simón Bolívar International Airport in Venezuela on Monday evening January 28 2019. It was a Boeing 777-200 carrying registration VP-BJG operated by the Russian airline Nordwind Airlines.  Media reported the purpose of the flight was to take gold out of Venezuela. Two days later it departed back to Moscow Vnukovo airport. Local Russian authorities stated they did not know why the flight was not listed on the arrival board. The aircraft was parked at the cargo terminal. No passengers left the plane nor cargo.

A few days later Reuters reports Venezuela will sell 15 tonnes of gold from central bank vaults to the United Arab Emirates in coming days in return for euros in cash.

Did this Boeing aircraft fly twice over the Ocean empty or did it pick up gold? This is a detailled investigation.

The Boeing 777 aircraft departed from Moscow Vnukovo airport at January 28 2019 . Nordwind Airlines is a typical charterairline. It flies Russian tourists to sunny destinations like in India, Thailand, Mexico and Turkey. Except for a flight on December 3, 2018 Nordwind never flew to Caracas before which is not a typical tourist destination. Holidays to Venezuela are not sold by Russian touroperators and the Russian authorities advised Russian citizens not to visit Venezuela. At December 3 Maduro traveled to Russia to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Rosneft contract

At December Nordwind Airlines signed a contract with Russian company Rosneft. The Russian oil company  has rented more than $7 billion in Venezuela, largely through loans to be repaid in future crude deliveries. Rosneft is “one of the largest international investors in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. (source). Nordwind Marketing Director Alexander Sukhorukov told Openmedia that the flight was a charterflight but did not reveal the company which charted the flight.

Nordwind Airlines

Nordwind Airlines operates from Moscow Sheremetyevo International Airport. The flight before the one to Caracas  left Phuket, Thailand and was scheduled to operate to Sheremetyevo but was rerouted to Moscow Vnukovo airport instead. Vnukovo is used by all Russian government flghts. The flight back from Caracas also had destination Vnukovo. Another remarkable aspect of this flight. The last change of destination to Vnukovo could indicate it was a last minute decision to have the aircraft operated to Caracas. This make a planned flight for reasons like a delegation visiting Venezuela less likely. The screenshot taken from Flightradar website shows the cancelled destination Moscow SVO (Sheremetyevo International Airport).

After arrival at Caracas the aircraft was parked at an unusual parking postition at the general aviation terminal. This Reuters video shows the location, far away from the regular commercial traffic. The terminal for normal passenger aircraft can be seen on the left of the photo. A local journalist on Twitter stated the crew after arrival requested the aircraft to be refueled immediately.

The aircraft was still standing here at January 30. The fact that the aircraft was parked two days without any movement is remarkable. Normally Nordwind aircraft depart within hours after arrival.

Nordwind Airlines earlier did some uncommon flights when it landed at  internationally-sanctioned airports in the Russia-occupied Crimea.

According Pedro M. Burelli, a former independent member of the Executive Board of PDVSA Petroleos de Venezuela, a state run oil company, Maduro flew in December 4 using a Nordwind Boeing 777 for a visit to Moscow. That is still unconfirmed as Maduro at departure from Caracas can be seen in front of the presidential Airbus A319 CJ. However the Nordwind B777 that arrived in Vnukovo at December 4 did went after landing to the VIP-terminal. The red painted concrete at the apron is used as a red carpet for VIP.

Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta stated there were no passengers onboard the aircraft. However it had two crews suggesting the aircraft might depart soon after arrival at Caracas. Speculations on internet were stating the aircraft was supposed to pickup Russian citizens. Earlier rumours said the aircraft was bringing staff of Wagner, a private military contracting agency. Wagners mercenaries are active in Eastern Ukraine, Syria and Africa on secret missions.

Based on the short takeoff from Vnukovo airport as shown by Flightradar is does seem the aircraft was empty at departure from Moscow.

Gold transport?

The reason for the visit quite likely is gold!

On January 29 a member of the Venezualean parliament, mister Jose Guerra stated in a speech in parliament that he heard from employees who work at the Central Bank of Venezuela that the aircraft was about to pickup 20 tons of gold. When asked who he got the information from he refused to tell more. Guerra is a former central bank economist and he likely still has contacts within the central bank.

La Patilla, one of the most visited websites in Venezuela, reported  about the statement by Guerra on its website, which is one of the most viewed in Venezuela.  The Twitter account of La Patilla has almost 7 million followers!

Transporting gold out of Venezuela is nothing new. According to this article by Bloomberg Venezuela transported $1.1 billion to the United Arab Emirates in December 2017 and $901 million to Turkey in the first 10 months of 2018.

At January 30 international press started to report about the possibility the aircraft arrived in Caracas to take gold out of the country. Bloomberg writes:

For another, a person with direct knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg News Tuesday that 20 tons of gold have been set aside in the central bank for loading.

The 20 tons of gold is worth about $840 million and represents  20% of the total gold reserve stored in Venezuela.

Denials

Russia and Venezuela authorities all deny a transport of gold.

When asked Dmitry Peskov, Kremlin spokesman, said on Wednesday that he is not aware of any plans to bring gold to Moscow, the Telegraph reports. “It is necessary to be very cautious about different hoaxes.” he added.

Simon Zerpa, Venezuela’s finance minister, also denied the transport of gold. He even stated there was no Russian aircraft in Caracas airport. Nordwind Airlines did not comment on requests by media about the purpose of the flight.

The information that Venezuela kept its gold reserves in Russia does not correspond to reality, the head of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation Elvira Nabiullina told reporters.  (source)

Russian Ambassador to Venezuela Vladimir Zaemsky stated at January 31: “The embassy has no info on this matter. The embassy did not issue any permission to fly any Russian aircraft here, the embassy had no negotiations with Central Bank of Venezuela regarding the gold reserves of Venezuela.” (source)

A spokesman of Nordwind said it was a charterflight with passengers onboard. ” We do not disclose who they are and why they flew there. I can tell you for sure, there were no weapons, no fighters of a private military company, and there was no gold on board.” (source)

John Bolton, White House national security adviser, made an interesting comment on his Twitter account stating bankers should not deal in Venezuelan commodities like gold.

My advice to bankers, brokers, traders, facilitators, and other businesses: don’t deal in gold, oil, or other Venezuelan commodities being stolen from the Venezuelan people by the Maduro mafia. We stand ready to continue to take action.

— John Bolton (@AmbJohnBolton) January 30, 2019

At January 30, 16:54 local time the Nordwind Boeing 777 departed Caracas to Moscow. 

The flight was not listed on the arrivals board of the airport. Indicating this is not an ordinary passenger flight. At 08:20 local Moscow time the aircraft landed at Vnukovo airport. According Flightradar the aircraft was parked at a remote stand. According Russian media the aircraft was parked at the cargo area. The media also reported the aircraft arrived with no passengers and cargo. Venezuela media reported about the departure and arrival including photos here. 

Это — тот самый загадочный самолет Nordwind Airlines, который сегодня прилетел в Москву из Каракаса. Фото сделано возле грузового комплекса Внуково. На табло аэропорта никаких данных об этом рейсе нет. Фото: «МБХ медиа» pic.twitter.com/raZEiRz590

— ЧТД (@Chtede) January 31, 2019

The flightradar track shows the aircraft heading for the cargo area which is located north of the terminal complex.

This video shows the aircraft parked. There seems to be no security around the aircraft.

On January 31, Marco Rubio, senator for Florida in the United States, send this Tweet:

.@UAEEmbassyUS, we have reports that a French national working for @noor_capital is in Caracas today to arrange for the theft of more Gold from #Venezuela. I hope you have advised them that they & any air charter service that does this will be subject to Treasury sanctions.

— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) January 31, 2019

Venezuela wants to sell gold to United Arab Emirates

At January 31 more information about gold selling appears when Reuters reports Venezuela will sell 15 tonnes of gold from central bank vaults to the United Arab Emirates in coming days in return for euros in cash. In total, the plan is to sell 29 tonnes of gold held in Caracas by February, the source of Reuters said.

Other reasons for visit of the Boeing 777

At the moment it is unconfirmed the aircraft did indeed load gold. Other reasons for the visit could be transporting a small delegation to Venezuela. The question is why such a large aircraft was used. Also it could be the purpose was to pickup gold but it for whatever reason did not take place and the aircraft went back empty to Moscow.

Reason to transport gold out of the country

As president Maduro does not have access to foreign bank accounts he is in desperate need for cash money. The State Department  had given the Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó the right to control assets and property in the United States bank accounts of the government of Venezuela.

Earlier the Bank of England  blocked Nicolas Maduro’s officials from withdrawing $1.2 billion worth of gold stored in the United Kingdom. This was on request by oppositionleader Juan Guaydo. In total Bank of England has 15% of the gold reserves of Venezuela worth around about $ 1 billion.

Maduro needs cash to pay the military, buy food but also pay his debts. For instance Russia expects a $ 100 million payment before the end of March.  Russia told Venezuela it must repay its debt to Moscow on time.

Other reasons to transport gold out of the country is simply storage in a more stable country with a regime friendly to Caracas. At least president Erdogan of Turkey did not make it a secret he has friendly ties to Maduro.

December 2018 visit of Maduro to Moscow

The Uganada route. March 1 visit of another Nordwind Boeing 777.